Siteseeing on the Internet

SITEseeing on the INTERNET

Objective:

• • Students will be able to evaluate a given website.

METS:

• • RI.1- Use a variety of digital resources to locate information.

  • RI.2- Evaluate information from online resources for accuracy and bias.

  • RI.3- Understand that using information from a single internet source might result in the reporting of erroneous facts and that multiple sources should always be researched.

  • RI.4- Identify types of websites based on their domain names (e.g., edu, com, org, gov, net)

The creation of the World Wide Web has provided a huge amount of information to all users. Students need to be able to critically evaluate a Web page for authenticity, applicability, authorship, bias, and usability. The ability to critically evaluate information is an important skill in the digital age.

In this lesson, you will examine at many different types of Web pages. Look for the domain name (i.e. .gov, .com, .edu, .org) to give you a clue to the author or source of the page. How current is this page? Identify the purpose of the Web page. Is the main purpose to inform, to persuade, or to sell you something? Can you contact the author? What forms of multimedia are used? Is the information reliable and useful for your research?

Use the links below to visit example Web sites. Download the Web Site Evaluation Form below and complete 1 Web Site Evaluation Form for each site you examine.

Evaluate a minimum of 3 sites.

Grading Scale:

Questions 1-11 are worth 1 point each. Question 12 is worth 4 points for a total of 15 points.

You will be printing and handing in 3 evaluation forms, therefore this assignment is worth a total of 45 points.

This assignment is worth a total of 45 points. Each evaluation form is worth 15 points x 3 (the number of websites you are required to evaluate and evaluations you must hand in).

45-41 Points A

40-36 Points B

35-33 Points C

32-28 Points D

27-0 Points E